Collapsible umbrellas



Oct. 10, 1961 K. MULLER 9 COLLAPSIBLE UNBRELLAS Filed April 22. 1959 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 76 o r q El fi Inventor:

6), KA/Pz MlJLL ER A 7'70RA/EYS Oct. 10, 1961 K. MULLER COLLAPSIBLE UMBRELLAS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed April 22. 1959 mp F496 United States The invention relates to a collapsible umbrella with collapsible stick and rib parts. In umbrellas of this kind, main struts which are each pivoted at one end to an outer rib extension and which are all pivoted together at the other end to a main slider movable along the stick serve to open and close the frame and to support the cover of the umbrella when it is open. These main struts are controlled and supported by auxiliary struts. Each auxiliary strut is pivoted to a main strut and all the auxiliary struts are pivoted to a common auxiliary slider which is movable along the stick between the crown of the umbrella and the main slider.

Umbrellas of this kind have the disadvantage that,

atent when the umbrella is manipulated to open it, the ribs tend to telescope together instead of swinging away from the stick. Numerous measures have been proposed to overcome this difficulty. In particular, the attempt has been made to prevent the unwanted telescoping of the ribs by means of spreading, checking or braking devices. In most of these devices, however, the spreading, checking or braking action also takes place when the umbrella is to be closed or collapsed, in which case it is undesirable.

The invention is derived from a known proposal which consists in temporarily preventing the movement of the auxiliary slider relatively to the stick by a checking device while the umbrella is being opened. In the known embodiment of this idea, the checking device acts by friction. Considerable constructional difficulties occur in making the friction sufficiently great to obtain the desired effect. In addition, if the friction is sufiiciently great, the return of the auxiliary slider into its starting position is prevented. This is one of the reasons why the known proposal, which is basically sound, has not proved successful. The invention is based on the idea that sufiiciently strong checking of the movement of the auxiliary slider can be achieved if steps are taken to ensure that the checking action is again eliminated in the course of the opening movement of the umbrella. This gives rise to the particular problem of finding means for eliminating the checking action. This problem is solved, in accordance with the invention, in that the checking device consists of a spring which cooperates with a locking projection mounted on the stick in such a manner that the spring is tensioned during the checking process and thereby effects the checking. At the end of the checking process, the spring is tensioned to such an extent that it slips off the projection and thereby releases it. In this way it becomes possible to cause the checking device to hold the auxiliary slider temporarily to the stick it the ribs tend to telescope into one another during opening of the umbrella instead of swinging outwards.

In the preferred form of construction of the invention, the checking device consists of means forming a longitudinal slot in the wall of the auxiliary slider, this slot extending as far as the end of the auxiliary slider which faces the main slider, and of a locking projection which slides in this longitudinal slot. The width of the longitudinal slot is in general greater than the width of the locking projection, but tapers towards the end facing the main slider and at that end is narrower than the locking projection.

The auxiliary slider may be made of springy material. The spring action of the wall of the auxiliary slider may,

lee

however, also be achieved or reinforced by a spring ring placed on the wall.

According to a further feature of the invention, the Wall of the auxiliary slider widens out in a funnel-like form at the end facing the main slider, at least in the region of the longitudinal slot, in such a way that the locking projection, which is mounted in the stick and can move resiliently in the radial direction, is pressed by the funnel-like widened wall of the auxiliary slider into the stick when the auxiliary slider returns, without the occurrence of any noticeable checking action. In this way, checking is prevented when the umbrella is being collapsed.

The locking projection may at the same time serve to lock the two stick parts together when they are pulled apart. The advantage of this is not only the structural simplicity but also the fact that the movement of the slider along the stick is not undesirably checked when the parts are pushed together or pulled apart, because the projection retreats into the interior of the stick during these operations.

The umbrella of the invention has the advantage over those already known that the checking device is reliable in action when the umbrella is being opened, but does not make itself felt in the closing of the umbrella. At the same time, the checking device is simple in construction, not liable to get out of order, and inexpensive to produce.

The drawing shows, by way of example, a constructional embodiment of the invention. In the drawing:

FIGURE 1 shows the umbrella frame in the closed position;

FIGURE 2 shows the auxiliary slider of the umbrella frame of FIGURE 1, together with the checking device, on a larger scale;

FIGURE 3 is a partial longitudinal section through the arrangement of FIGURE 2, taken on the line IIl--III of FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 4 is a view of the arrangement shown in FIGURE 3 while the umbrella is being collapsed; and

FIGURE 5' is an enlarged detail view, partly in section, of the bottom portion of FIGURE 1.

As shown in the drawing, the stick of the umbrella consists of two telescopically collapsible parts 10 and 11 of which the part 10 carries the handle 12 and the part 11 carries the crown 13 of the umbrella. The ribs pivoted to the crown 13 each consist of two parts 14 and 15 which can be pushed into one another and which are guided in their movement by a sleeve 16 which slides on the hollow main part 14 and is fixed to the inner end of the solid extension 15 as illustrated in dotted lines in FIG- URE 1. Main struts 17 support the cover frame. One end of each main strut is pivoted at 18 to the sleeve rigid with the corresponding rib extension 15 and the other end is pivoted at 19 to a main slider 20. The main slider 20 can be locked to the stick in the positions which it takes up when the umbrella is completely open and when it is completely closed as shown in FIGURE 1. For this purpose a locking pawl 21 loaded by a spring 50, as shown in FIGURE 5, is mounted in the main slider. In FIGURE 1 only that end of the locking pawl on which manual pressure is exerted is visible. la is open and when it is completely closed, the pawl engages holes in the wall of the stick which are situated on the right-hand side of the Wall of the stick in FIGURE 1 and are not visible. The main struts 17 are controlled and supported by auxiliary struts 22 pivoted at one end at 23 to the main struts and at the other end at 24 to the auxiliary slider 25 which is movable on the stick between the main slider 20 and the crown 13' of the umbrella. A locking projection 26, the details of which are shown in FIGURE 3, locks the stick parts 10 and 11 to each other when they are pulled apart, as shown in FIGURE 1. The projection or lug 26 is fixed to a U-shaped leaf spring When the umbrel 27 which is mounted in the interior of the stick part 10. In the locked position shown in FIGURE 3, the lug 26 passes through a slot in the stick part 11. The umbrella is unlocked by a rod 29 which is movable along the stick part and which can be manually displaced by means of a push button 30 projecting from the handle 12, the button being displaced against the force of a spring 51 (FIGURE 3). So far, the frame is of the usual con struction. The cloth cover, which is not shown, is fixed to the crown 13, to the sleeves 16, and to the free ends 31 of the ribs.

The auxiliary slider 25 has a sleeve 32 extending down wards from the pivots 24. This sleeve has a longitudinal slot 33 into which the lug 26 projects when the umbrella is closed as in FIGURES l, 2 and 3. The longitudinal slot extends right down to the lower end 34 of the auxiliary slider 25 facing the main slider 20. The width of the longitudinal slot 33 is generally greater than the width of the lug 26 but tapers towards the end 34 facing the main slider 20-as shown clearly in FIGURE 2-where it is considerably narrower than the lug 26. The sleeve 32 is made of resilient material, e.g. steel. The spring action of the sleeve 32 is reinforced by an annular spring 35 placed around the sleeve. At the end 34, the sleeve 32 widens out in funnel-like manner adjacent the longitudinal slot 33, as shown clearly in FIGURE 3.

The umbrella is manipulated as follows:

If the umbrella is to be opened, starting from the closed but lengthened position shown in FIGURE 1, the pawl 21 is depressed and the main slider 20 is moved up the stick by hand. If the umbrella opens, i.e. the ribs 14, swing outwardly, then the auxiliary slider 25 will move upwardly at a speed which is less than the speed of the main slider. The distance between the sliders thereby decreases. In the course of this movement the edges 36 of the longitudinal slot 33 come into contact with the lug 26 at a point where slot 33 is narrower than this lug. The resilient sleeve 32 of the auxiliary slider 25 is expanded in the region of the lower end 34 by the lug 26 as the latter is pushed into the tapering longitudinal slot 33. This initially checks the movement of the auxiliary slider. The continued upward movement of the main slider then forces the cover frame to open. The force with which the auxiliary slider 25 is pressed against the lug 26 increases during this movement, whereby the lug is pressed further and further into the tapered part of the longitudinal slot 33 and the sleeve 32 is thereby progressively expanded. The width of the lug 26, the form of the longitudinal slot 33 and the spring action of the sleeve 32 are so selected that the above-described process continues until the opening of the cover frame is ensured. When the auxiliary slider 25 has moved up so far that this is the case, the lug 26 is in the part of the longitudinal slot 33 which was originally the narrowest, i.e. the lower end of the sleeve 32. As the upward movement of the auxiliary slider 25 continues, the lug 26 slips out of the longitudinal slot 33. The release of the lug 26 ends the checking action on the auxiliary slider 25. The umbrella can then be completely opened in the usual manner.

To close the umbrella, the processes take place in the reverse sequence but without any check on the aux iliary slider 25, because the outwardly flared peripheral portion at the lower end 34 of the sleeve 32 in the region of the longitudinal slot 33, as shown in FIGURE 3, is pushed over the lug 26 during the closure of the umbrella and earns the lug 26 into the stick 10, 11, so that the lug 26 travels along the inside of the wall of the sleeve 32 during the downward movement of the auxiliary slider 25 until the width of the longitudinal slot 33 again becomes greater than the width of the lug.

Since the wall of the sleeve 32 is not expanded during the downward movement of the auxiliary slider 25 and the lug 26 need overcome only the very small force of the spring 27, the auxiliary slider is not checked in its movement.

To shorten the umbrella, the button 30 is actuated, whereby the lug 26 is withdrawn and the frame is telescoped in the usual manner. Since the lug 26 is inside the stick part 11 while the frame is being pushed together or pulled apart, it cannot hinder the movement of the auxiliary slider 25 along the stick.

We claim:

1. An umbrella frame comprising an elongated stick having a crown near one end; a main runner slidable on said stick; a plurality of ribs each pivoted at one extremity to said crown and provided with a telescopic extension at the other extremity; a plurality of main struts each articulated at its ends to said runner and to a respective one of said extensions; an auxiliary runner slidable on said stick between said main runner and said crown; a plurality of auxiliary struts each articulated to said auxiliary runner and to a respective one of said main struts intermediate the articulated ends of the latter; and a lug resiliently mounted in a recess of said stick for normally projecting into the path of said auxiliary runner, the latter having a resilient peripheral portion formed with an axially extending slot aligned with said lug, said slot being wider than said lug over part of its length and terminating in a constricted passage open toward said main runner and narrower than said lug, said lug being so located along said stick as to be received in the wider part of said slot in a closure position in which said ribs are substantially parallel to said stick and in which both said runners are at their farthest points from said crown whereby a movement of said main runner toward said crown for spreading said ribs brings said resilient portion into frictional engagement with said lug at said restricted passage and expands said passage until said lug has cleared said passage upon continued rib-spreading displacement of said main runner, said resilient portion being outwardly flared at said constricted passage in the direction of said main runner, thereby forming a camming surface for urging said lug into said recess with avoidance of said passage upon a reverse movement of said main runner.

2. An umbrella frame according to claim 1 wherein said stick consists of an inner section and an outer section telescopically fitting into each other, said recess being provided in said inner section, said sections having apertures aligned with each other in an extended position of said stick, said lug passing through said apertures in said extended position and preventing a foreshortening of said stick, said inner section being provided with manually operable means for withdrawing said lug into said inner section preparatorily to a relative displacement of said sections into a telescoped position.

3. An umbrella frame according to claim 1, further comprising annular spring means surrounding said resilient portion for increasing the resiliency thereof in the region of said restricted passage.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,156,984 Haupt May 2, 1939 FOREIGN PATENTS 18,858 Great Britain Oct. 4, 1894 493,623 Belgium Feb. 15, 1950 883,330 Germany July 16, 1953 

